First Look at FSM Ron Jones Project 14 CD TNG Music Box Set (Now Available For Pre-order)

In September Film Score Monthly is taking on their most ambitious Star Trek project yet, and today the 14 CD "Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Ron Jones Project" is available for pre-order. We have more details and an exclusive look at some of the artwork from the set below.

14 CD Ron Jones Box Set Available for pre-order

Film Score Monthly have put together the largest-ever collection of Star Trek music: a 14 CD box set of Ron Jones’ fan-favorite scores to the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The 14 discs contain over 16 hours of music, featuring 40 complete episode scores (including classic episodes like “Heart of Glory,” “11001001,” “Q Who,” “Who Watches the Watchers” and “Brothers”), bonus tracks to “The Best of Both Worlds,” and Jones’ music to two Interplay computer games, Starfleet Academy (1997) and Starfleet Command (1999), all in pristine stereo.

"Ron Jones Project" box set

The box set includes a 60-page booklet which contains an introductory essay and track listings (illustrated with TNG stills and artwork), and the entire collection comes in a sturdy gold slipcase. FSM also has additional web “online liner notes” for the box set with dozens of pages of history and analysis on the music of The Next Generation, with Ron Jones offering his commentary on all of his TNG episode scores.

Sample spread from 60 page booklet

Pre-order link + Signing event

The box set is due to ship in mid to late September. Film Score Monthly has begun taking pre-orders (via their retail partner, Screen Archives Entertainment) for the 14CD soundtrack box set. PREORDER LINK:Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Ron Jones Project: $149.95. (this set will be limited to 5,000 copies).

On the afternoon of Sunday September 19th Ron Jones will be appearing at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA signing copies of the set. Autographed copies can also be ordered at Dark Delicacies and also Screen Archives Entertainment.

Probly will pass. I just do not think the Music of Tng is worth the price. To me thw Tng Music was to bland but there are a few exeptions. The Pilot Epp was good and the music to the best of both worlds was great. But I just don’t see paying that kind of money to get to the bit of music that was actualy good.

Now, if we could PLEASE get the TOS music in a set like this! I want my “Metamorphosis” music and “Friday’s Child” and “The Enterprise Incident!”

August 31, 2010 1:00 pm

Admonisher

@6. Please visit the site and LISTEN TO THE SOUND-CLIPS! TNG’s music was not homogeneous in the early seasons. Ron Jones’ scores were full of passion, melody and creativity, which was why he was ditched by Rick Berman. “The music of TNG” over the course of the entire series may deserve the label “too bland,” but this set is ONLY the music of Ron Jones — and “too bland” it is not!

August 31, 2010 1:18 pm

David Stoeckel

I like it. Worth the price and more.

August 31, 2010 1:19 pm

T_Mac

Finally, can get the music from “The Defector” probably my favorite score of TNG

August 31, 2010 1:55 pm

OneBuckFilms

8 – TOS would be fantastic, but I doubt we’d get it, as GNP Crescendo owns the rights to most of the key scores (the ones already released by them on CD).

If the rights are the same as TNG, they may own the rights in perpetuity.

However, never say never. FSM have surprised me before, with Trek II and Trek III.

August 31, 2010 1:58 pm

swh1939

[i]Pre-order link + Singing event[/i]

So Ron will sing as well as sign? Sweet!!!

August 31, 2010 1:59 pm

schnotty

Awesome. Ron Jones gave TNG it’s personality before Berman replaced him with a plastic chew toy. I’ll be getting this one.

August 31, 2010 2:06 pm

Spock

I hope they do this with classic trek. Now there is classic scoring instead of background music. Jones did some good stuff for tng. Didn’t they toss him off the show because he went againt the rule of berman?

What #15 said; there’s some great GNP Crescendo and Varese Sarabande TOS collections out there, but I’d love to see a definitive collection (re-recording, remaster, whatever) from the entire TOS run.

August 31, 2010 2:34 pm

AJ

7.

Bill you’re right. Well, I’ll be. For $150, I am shocked. I know BOBW has been released on CD separately, but excluding it here seems pointlessly stupid.

August 31, 2010 2:41 pm

T2

This is awesome. Already pre-ordered it. The music of TOS is awesome and I’m glad to have much of it, but TNG, now that’s a whole other ball game. The music was memorable, intelligent, and sometimes surreal – especially Seasons 1 and 3. Can’t wait…and the computer games (especially Starfleet Academy), that’s icing on the cake. Hopefully my next TNG purchase will someday be Blu-Ray releases, but that’s a lot of time and money away from happening. Thanks for the preview!

Hi Everyone — We were contractually prohibited by the existing GNP Crescendo album from including more than 5 minutes from “The Best of Both Worlds,” so we took the opportunity to release some cues omitted from that CD. Please visit our online notes to learn everything we could think to print about this project!

What an amazing release. Ron Jones’ scores for TNG were so much richer than the ‘sonic wallpaper’ of his colleagues, such a shame Berman and Co fired him after The Drumhead.

August 31, 2010 3:14 pm

Chain of Command

Looking forward to this. Loved Ron Jones’ music. Goes without saying that all the Berman-era Star Trek productions from TNG’s 5th season onward lost a lot, sonically speaking.

I may get slammed for this, however: except for “Tin Man” (and maybe “the inner light”), I HATED JAY CHATTAWAY’S MUSIC. I just hated it. I don’t really fault him because I know the stipulations that were placed on the composers (all fans do). However, I just really hated the meandering sound it ALWAYS had.

Even before I knew anything about music, I remember looking forward to episodes with Ron Jones scoring, and was bemused by the Producers’ attitude.

August 31, 2010 3:24 pm

Pearl Bodine

I want a TOS boxed-set!

August 31, 2010 4:00 pm

Vultan

#22

No need to get slammed, Chain; you’re right on the money. “Tin Man” has some of the best music of the series, but, yeah, the majority of Chattaway’s music was flat as a pancake. Berman must have taken him aside after “Inner Light” and told him that his music was “too noticeable. And you don’t want to end up like Ron Jones, now do ya?”

August 31, 2010 4:44 pm

Vultan

And bravo to the design team for the those liner notes! Always nice to see LCARS incorporated into TNG merchandise.

I hope you see a great interest is there for TOS-era music. I used to play audio tapes of TOS episodes taped from TV just to hear the dramatic cues along with the dialogue. Many of us have purchased every incarnation from the original series (every CD listed on startreksoundtracks.com). I want more. Hopefully all of it. Just think, The Cage was produced 25 years ago and the last one 18 years ago. That is a long drought.

Often the Enterprise is considered as important and iconic as any one of the original troika. I would have to include the soundtrack as important for contributing great nostalgia.

Lukas, as a fan of Star Trek and soundtracks, please do what ever needs to be done to release a complete (as much as possible) box set of the music that started it all. You have the contacts and the bona fides to do it. Would Jeff Bond colloborate?

Thanks from a fan!!! :)

August 31, 2010 6:46 pm

et

@9 – Thanks for the clarification, Admonisher. I hadn’t focused on the arc of the whole series of TNG music. I still never had the same feeling for the TNG music as I did for the TOS, but it’s nice to know it wasn’t all Bermanwash.

August 31, 2010 9:51 pm

Phaser Guy

Oh brother, let’s bash Berman for season one where GR had pretty much full control of everything.

August 31, 2010 11:08 pm

Jim Nightshade

This set looks wonderfully done in every way–pity i cannot afford it-bet the 5000 copies go quickly-kudos to all involved n thanx for making such creative complilations for us fans! Been outta work over a year now–this is a great collection for trek fans obviously! All of u lucky fans enjoy–wouldnt mind seeing a review when it comes out-to let me know what i missed heheh

August 31, 2010 11:20 pm

Simon

#29 – WRONG THREAD TO COMPLAIN.

At least TNG had original scores for all their episodes, instead of the same cues rehashed over and over and over and over and over….

OH NO! I can’t afford that, and by the time I can they will all be gone! And yet I must own it!

Dilemma!

There were parts of Ron Jones’ early TNG work I really do not like, but, guys… if you are bashing Ron Jones OR his TNG scores, you are demonstrating nothing other than your own ignorance. There is some *brilliant* stuff in there, and it is *not* all concentrated in “The Best of Both Worlds.” I’ve always longed for a “11001001” release, and now I’m going to get it.

And, as an aside, the score to Starfleet Academy is (1) wonderful and (2) really darned hard to find these days. If you don’t have it, this is your big chance. When I was a foolish child, I used to play whole levels of the game just to get to pieces of music that I liked. Then I learned about soundtracks, and my world changed.

September 1, 2010 1:35 am

TMZ

If a release of 14 CD of this music rightfully gets interest, why is Paramount sitting on top of re-releasing extended and remastered HD versions of the TNG TV series itself.

They could literally put that out again in a prime timeslot and get ratings.

September 1, 2010 3:27 am

Phobos

I ordered mine earlier. I wonder if it includes all the episodes. I presume not as appears it is only the audio made by Mr Jones. Did anyone else make music for the shows?

September 1, 2010 3:55 am

Phobos

@38 Apparantly the special effects in TNG are in video, not film like the actor cuts. So they have to redo all the digital effects.

However, how come Voyager or at least Enterprise are not out yet? Enterprise was recorded in HD TV.

September 1, 2010 3:56 am

Dom

40. Actually, it’s more than that: TNG’s film stock was telecined in standard definition and edited and mastered in that format. The filmed FX elements were also composited in standard definition. Unlike TOS, which was edited on film and therefore the cut programme was easy to telecine in HD, TNG would effectively have to have the negs retelecined, then be recut from scratch. It’s been pointed out that they were far more interested in getting the shows on air at the time than being super-duper efficient about cataloguing everything in detail for a revamp quarter of a century later. Additionally, there were vastly more visual FX per episode. On top of that, there would probably to be a lot of CGI retouching required to clean up all the seams on the infinitely more complicated alien make-up! In a sense, you’d have to run seven years of post-production all over again AND be limited by decisions made nearly 25 years ago. Frankly, I’d rather the HUGE amount of money that would cost be spent on a new show! On the other hand, if TNG had to be rebuilt from scratch, you might as well recut them as 40 minuters from scratch with a modern sensibility and do new FX. I mean, it’s not as if people are going to cry about The Last Outpost being rereleased in a tighter edit! Actually, they should get Ron Jones in to rescore a bunch of other episodes: his work pee-ed all over anyone else’s work on the modern Trek shows! I’m sure he would also like to pump up one or two of the scores he was forced to reign in near the end of his era. Even The Best of Both Worlds II was rather watered down compared with it’s predecessor. Hell, get… Read more »

September 1, 2010 5:18 am

rm10019

41 – While I agree in spirit with your comments, that would be a whole different ballgame, with new music (and yes that would rule) you’re talking about TNG Reimagined, not just Remastered :)

September 1, 2010 6:22 am

rm10019

19 – Lukas Kendall

Would you consider selling the booklet seperately, at some point?

September 1, 2010 6:34 am

ScottDS

Just testing.

September 1, 2010 6:58 am

ScottDS

^43 –

You can read the contents of the booklet (more material actually) on FSM’s website. I had trouble posting the link earlier but go to FSM’s website, mouse over “FSM CDs” and click on “Liner Notes.”

September 1, 2010 7:01 am

rm10019

45- Thanks, I saw them, and was reading them. As a fan and collector though, I thought it would be nice to have the booklet, and thought it might be a nice source of supplimentary income for FSM, as some may want to read it, but not be able to afford the price of the set of discs.

September 1, 2010 7:09 am

ScottDS

No problem.

P.S.: My earlier reply re: the liner notes disappeared so it might show up again later. Please disregard it. :-)

September 1, 2010 7:15 am

CarlG

Oh dear sweet lord/allah/buddha/FSM, I WANT this! :D

September 1, 2010 7:20 am

Dr. Image

Long overdue!
Ron’s TNG stuff showed talent and creativity. Like Bernard Herrmann, he UNDERSTOOD (understands) the value of a good score in relation to what’s on screen.
That’s why they fired him. (Too thematic? Give me a break.)
Stick it, Berman!